Making it.

Chapter 17 - No shit Sherlock.

"Hey mom." I greet her once she answers my facetime call.

"Hey Hailey. How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good. How are you? Is there anything happening back home?" I ask subtly, trying to move the topic to what Milli has been pushing me to ask every single day now and threatening to kidnap Blacky if I don't do it today.

"Hal and I are pretty busy, but apart from that, we're fine. There's nothing much happening except for Joey coming by over the weekend."

"Joey? Is he here now?" My attention is caught immediately at the mention of my dearest brother, Joey, and she shakes her head.

"No, he and Abby went out of town." I feel a sting in my heart when images of them bonding and having a normal brother-sister time flood my mind. Maybe their blood is stronger than my mixed one.

"Oh." Traitor.

"Well, tell him I said hi and that he can still call me." I haven't heard from him in so long. I think the last time was the night before my flight when he spontaneously showed up, begging for my forgiveness. So much for staying in touch, huh?

I shake my head to get rid of those thoughts and focus on my goal here again. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you about. Consider it a favour." I begin and Mom gives me a curious look.

"What it is Hailey?"

"Could I come back during my autumn break?" I spit it out and she gets silent, chewing her lip in anxiety.

"Mom?"

She eventually sighs and tries to explain, "Hailey, you know that I would love to see you again, but Hal and I have to fly away for a business trip that week."

"I could stay at Milli's. You know Sophie never had a problem with me sleeping over." I quickly suggest and she shakes her head.

"I'd rather not have to think about what could happen while we are not there to keep an eye on you."

"You sound ridiculous considering we are on different continents with different time zones right now where YOU send ME to." I snap and slightly regret blowing my chance completely now.

"This is different. This is for your best and I have Mike to keep me accountable." Bullshit.

"Great. Then I will ask Mike what he thinks about this."

"No Hailey-" I hang up, grab my stuff and slam the door behind me. I'm supposed to be there in a few hours anyway for dinner and maybe a baking session with Josh. They surely won't mind me getting there early.

I pass Sammy, Luke, Amanda and Amelia on my way out and they give me curious glances. I ignore them and keep my face blank and my steps fast. A minute later I get a text from Luke.

Everything alright?

Yes.

You sure? You look pretty tense and angry.

Look? I turn around and seem them still in the same position, only now farther away. I look at Luke and shoot him a fake smile, continuing my way a second later.

See? I'm all good.

We'll talk later. Once you finish murdering whoever made you this upset.

Alright.

Whoa. That was impressive. And sweet. But I will never tell him about this thought no matter how much he tries. Don't need to stroke the ego if his is already bursting through the roof 24/7.